1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to animated displays, and more particularly to animated displays using illuminatable, e.g., electroluminescent, OLED, etc., panels that are arranged to be mounted on various support structures, e.g., windows of automobiles or businesses, and whose panels are replaceable to change the animated display.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art includes various patents disclosing electroluminescent panels for use in or on vehicles to provide a visual display of graphics and/or text. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,326 (Kanamori) discloses a window mounted marker light for displaying a corporate logo or the type, model etc. of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,970 (Murphy) also discloses a window mounted marker light for displaying a corporate logo or the type, model etc. of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,306 (Kinstler) discloses a flexible electroluminescent sign arranged to be removably attached to a vehicle, e.g., on the vehicle's door, and powered by the vehicles electrical system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,387 (Hoffman) discloses an illuminated sign for adhesive bonding to the inside surface of an automobile window. The sign is made up of an electroluminescent panel and a removable indicia bearing member e.g., a stencil, disposed over the electroluminescent panel so that when the electroluminescent is illuminated light passes through the stencil to produce a display visible from outside the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,384 (Chien) discloses illuminated signs located in the window of a vehicle and on its bumper. The signs are made up of electroluminescent panels and associated power packs, where can be attached to the vehicle a by adhesion or other appropriate devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,425 (Apelberg) discloses illuminated roof mounted sign assembly for a motor vehicle, e.g., a taxi. The assembly includes a flexible electroluminescent panels over which a transparent panel bearing indicia, e.g., the word “TAXI” is disposed for illuminating that indicia.
The use of electroluminescent devices to produce animated displays is shown in various United States patents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,205,690 discloses a panel, page or substrate having a tier of electroluminescent material to form a pattern corresponding to a series of images. When illuminated in accordance with a predetermined sequence, the series of images provides the illusion of movement or animation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,224 (Bear) discloses a cold light signboard having distributed luminous regions arranged to be illuminated in a predetermined sequence from a control circuit. Power is provided by either a battery box or a general power supply.
Other products or devices making use of electroluminescent displays are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,573,532 (Boucher), U.S. Pat No. 4,195,431 (Neufeld), U.S. Pat No. 5,845,987 (Painter), and U.S. Pat No. 6,112,437 (Lovitt).
While all of the foregoing devices may be suitable for their general purposes they still leave much to be desired from various standpoints, such as ease of use, ease of changing the display and/or its pattern/sequence patterns, suitability for use with various power sources, ease of mounting on various types of support items, etc. Thus, a need exists for a device which addresses those needs.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.